The Faunus in the High Castle
by gamer4
Summary: Blake's life ended the day she grew a pair of cat ears, for her village mandates that faunus must be sacrificed to the nearby castle for its own protection. Trapped in the walls of stone, Blake discovers Weiss, a young woman who has been there for as long as she can remember. As the two unite to escape, they develop a bond closer than either thought possible.
1. Prologue: The Greater Good

Gamer4 in, and welcome, my friends, to my first fic in another fandom- in this case, RWBY! To be honest, I'm somewhat new to this fandom- I only discovered the show a month or two back, but let me tell you, it was pretty much love at first sight. I've watched through the first two volumes multiple times since then, along with RWBY Chibi, given the third volume a single watch-through, and intend to give the whole series another go-through once the fourth volume is complete! Not to mention watching it all again with my sister. For anyone who knows me, all this translates to, _A fanfiction is inevitable,_ and so it was. I have a few ideas bouncing around for this series, but the one putting the most fire in my fingers is what you see before you. This is, as you probably already guessed, an AU- I'll be toying with characters and concepts from canon, but don't expect this to be anywhere _near_ canon-conforming. The plot of this story will be following the plot of one of my favorite games of all time- _Ico,_ by Team Ico, for the Playstation. If you heard the name before, but aren't sure where, allow me to mention the name of its much more popular sequel- _Shadow of the Colossus._ I was recently playing through this game for the first time in much too long, reading RWBY fiction on the side, and somehow, through my Mountain-Dew addled brain, something clicked- _These two stories could fit together!_ is what I thought, specifically. There'll be some deviation- kind of bound to happen, when trying to mesh two stories together in such a way- but anyone who's played the game should have an idea of what to expect. That said, having played the game shouldn't be by any means necessary to enjoy this story. Okay, enough rambling- final notes? This should be a relatively serious story, especially by my standards, but I'll try to fit in some comic relief where possible- this is _me_ we're talking about, after all. Alright, let's get started!

Disclaimer: For those new to my stories, (a distinct possibility, given that this is my first time writing for RWBY,) I hate disclaimers. Hate them. You'll get this one, and you will never get it again, so enjoy it while it lasts- I do not own RWBY or Ico. RWBY was created by Monty Oum, Wave Existence rest his soul, and is currently owned by Rooster Teeth. Ico, meanwhile, is owned by, wouldn't you know it, Team Ico.

The Faunus in the High Castle

Prologue

The Greater Good

It was for the good of the village. Blake knew that. Chanting that mantra to herself again and again was all that had kept her sane these past several years.

Waves lapped quietly on the shores of the beach at the outskirts of the village as Blake's friends gathered to wish her a fond farewell. Blake had expected Ruby's reaction- the young girl's eyes were red from crying, just as they had been for Velvet and Sun before her. But even their loss didn't sting the girl in red as much as losing Blake- a longtime resident with her and her sister, Yang.

Speaking of Yang, she stood beside her younger sister, gripping her shoulder tightly, an expression on her face between fury and abject despair. It was often said of Blake and Yang that if one was present, the other was liable to be somewhere nearby. Blake wasn't sure what was more difficult- imagining the remainder of her own short life without Yang, or imagining Yang continuing on from that point without her.

Beside them was Jaune Arc, who was far past despair- he wore the look of a man who didn't quite understand what was happening- the look of a man who'd found himself plunged into a terrible trial without any means to deal with it. While Jaune had never been Blake's first image of strength and confidence, the helplessness he showed now was worse than anything she'd seen on his visage before.

Which only left Lie Ren and Pyrrha Nikos, already preparing the boat that she knew was soon to take her to her doom. Pyrrha was sobbing quietly with every small movement, tear after tear falling down her face as she struggled to keep her eyes on the boat, on the waves, anywhere but on Blake. Ren, meanwhile, was concealing himself behind a mask of indifference- to any outsider, he may seem completely dispassionate, but to those who knew him well, it was a thin veil to hide the screaming pain beneath.

"So, Nora won't be stopping by to say goodbye, huh?" Blake asked, trying to keep calm, attempting to sound as though they were seeing her off on a weekend vacation, rather than watching her sail off to her death.

"I tried to talk her into it," Ren acknowledged. "But she couldn't. After everything, I... I didn't want to force her, to cause her more pain..."

A collective cringe went through the group, imagining the bubbly hammer-wielder in such pain, the smile drained from her face, leaving only despair behind.

Gazing into the water, Blake thought back to two days earlier, when this had begun. The day had seemed normal enough- waking up in her bed at Ruby and Yang's house, clearing the sleep from her eyes, getting ready for breakfast. In the back of her mind, she'd noticed her hearing had grown more acute, but it wasn't until she heard Ruby's scream that it had finally clicked that something was wrong. A rush to the bathroom later, and she'd confirmed the worst- from the top of her head had grown a pair of velvet, feline ears.

"Do... do you want to take your bow with?" Yang asked tentatively, producing said article of clothing. Blake gazed at it for a moment, before slowly shaking her head. "No- you keep it. I don't need it where I'm going."

The bow had held a special significance to her before- a gift from Yang not long after she'd moved in with the sisters of red and yellow, meant to show that as far as she was concerned, Blake was part of the family. Upon first discovering her newly-sprouted ears, Yang's first instinct had been to order Blake to conceal them behind the bow, rationalizing that nobody would find it odd- Blake was almost always to be found wearing it anyways. Blake had been skeptical from the beginning- such tactics hadn't worked for Sun, after all- but had been willing to give it a shot, if it meant she could avoid her fate.

Ruby leapt up and clung to Blake's shoulder. "No! Please, don't go! Why? Why does it have to be like this?!"

Blake wished she had some comfort to offer the girl, but the truth was, she only had the vaguest idea herself. It was well-known in their village that sometimes, when children attained a certain age, they may take on the body part of an animal- usually ears, but sometimes the tail, legs, or horns. It had not passed them by either that such an event was usually followed by a great fire striking the town, blazing through from the edge of the village to the house where the child lived, taking many lives in its path, and ending with the child's disappearance.

Eventually, at some point in that village's history, they had discovered a way to prevent the tragedy- any child that took on these animalistic traits- the faunus, as they came to be called- had to be sent out to the castle a forest and lake away from the village. Left behind in the dungeons, they would vanish just as they would otherwise, but without the fire and loss of life of other villagers that had once accompanied it.

At first, it had seemed like a nightmare- a story used to scare children into obedience, perhaps. But the truth had reared its ugly head for all to see three years ago, when one of the village's girls, Velvet Scarlatina, had woken up one morning with the ears of a rabbit protruding from her head. The next day, she had been loaded onto a boat and sent across the lake to that accursed castle, never to return.

Blake was jolted out of her thoughts as Ren lightly touched her on the shoulder. "It's time to go," he whispered. She looked to see his eyes, steely in the breaking morning light. She gave a brief nod. "Just... let me say goodbye."

First, Jaune, who still didn't look like he fully understood what was happening. "Why... why?" he kept muttering to himself. "Why you?"

"It's going to be alright, Jaune," she forced a smile. Memories came rushing back of the small, sad smile that Velvet had given her friends as the boat carried her away. She hadn't understood it then, but she thought she did now. "It's going to be okay."

Next, Ruby, who clung to her like a sloth to a tree- an analogy the missing Nora would be proud of. "Please, don't go! There has to be another way! We could- we could-"

"There isn't another way," Blake shook her head. "It's for the good of the village, okay?" For the good of the village- yes, she knew it, but that didn't make this goodbye any less painful. "Take care of your big sister, alright? I'm going to the castle to _stop_ a fire, don't let my efforts be in vain, okay?"

Ruby gave a sad, watery chuckle. It was a very humorless situation, but Blake found herself empathizing more and more with Velvet's desire to send that message- to communicate to her friends that everything would be alright, even when- _especially_ when- she knew it wasn't.

Finally, Yang. What could they say, as those years of close camaraderie came to an end? Memories flashed through Blake's mind as she approached the blond- now that she thought of it, Yang's statement made so long ago, that they were like sisters, only closer, had come more true than Blake would have thought possible before moving in with her. "Yang... it's going to-"

"No, it won't," Yang spoke for the first time that day, her voice steady despite the mixed anger and sorrow in her eyes. "Come on, Blake... I thought we agreed never to lie to each other."

Blake gave a slight nod before being pulled into the most bone-crushing hug of her life. Normally, she'd have fought back, crying desperately for air, but just this once, she allowed Yang all the time she needed. "I... I would have done anything to keep your secret. I would have taken it to the grave if I had to..." Yang muttered through her tears, now flowing freely.

Blake nodded. She knew that too. But truth had a way of outing itself- Sun Wukong had proven that well enough. Not long after Velvet, the local funny man of the village had found himself with a monkey's tail, a fact he divulged only to his closest friends as he strove to take advantage of the appendage's placement to conceal it within his pants. No good- he had been found out and sent off to the castle all the same. So for him, so for Blake.

Ren watched Yang and Blake's final hug with his arms crossed and his head bowed, clearly no more eager than Blake to end it. It may have been a minute, or five, or thirty before he finally intervened. "I... it's time to go, Blake."

Yang slowly allowed her arms to go limp, allowing Blake to back away, eyes fixed on her friends as she climbed into the middle of the boat, Pyrrha on one side, charged with ensuring she didn't attempt an escape, and Ren on the other, charged with rowing.

Ruby's sobs heightened in intensity as the boat pushed off, while Yang stood beside her like a statue. Blake closed her eyes, losing herself in the rhythm of Ren's rowing. _Thunk, swish, drip. Thunk, swish, drip._

Pyrrha, despite her job to keep an eye on Blake, kept her eyes on the boat's floor instead, trembling with her tears. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry... I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry..."

Ren, however, kept his eyes fixed ahead on his goal- the castle enveloped in the morning mist. Blake could tell by looking at him- despite his calm demeanor, he knew what he was doing just as much as Pyrrha- and despised himself for it.

 _Thunk, swish, drip. Thunk, swish, drip._ The sound of rowing filled Blake's ears- human and feline. Her mind filled with images of those who'd come before- Velvet's small, sad smile, Sun's winning, confident grin, even as they were rowed off to what they knew to be their deaths...

As they approached the cliff below the castle, Blake spied a small aperture in the cliff's face, leading into a small, underground cavern that seemed to double as a dock. Ren led the two girls off the boat and to a small shrine where a long, white rapier waited. Noticing that Pyrrha seemed in no condition to utilize it, Ren took hold of it instead. He led the troupe to a nearby door. Electricity crackled around sword and door alike as they approached, until the door slowly opened for them. Next came a long flight of stairs, ending in a grand hall made up almost entirely of cells- cells that, Blake shuddered to imagine, must have once held all the faunus that had ever been sacrificed to this place over its years of existing.

Ren quietly led them up a single flight of stairs to one of these cells, complete with a mat on the floor, and not much else. Clearing his throat, he spoke. "Our orders are to lock you in there, and return to the village. What happens after that... I wish I could tell you. Any last words?"

Blake shook her head. "Just do it," she muttered.

Ren nodded curtly, reaching for the door, unlocking it, and opening it up. Before entering, Blake turned to Pyrrha, still sobbing, still apologizing. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry..."

"I forgive you," Blake whispered as she embraced her. "Always, totally, and completely."

The words seemed to do little to comfort the redhead- she continued crying as she stepped back, only for Ren to surprise Blake as he pulled her into an embrace of his own. It lasted longer than Blake would have expected- the only time she'd seen him hug anyone else, ever, was Nora, and even then, she was usually the instigator. After a while, he let go of her, having whispered only five words to her- words that, at the time, she could make neither head nor tails of: "You'll know what to do."

He backed away, and watched as she stepped behind her cell's bars. He pulled the door closed, and rattled the bars a bit to ensure that they were locked. "Well, then," he whispered, his gaze unbreaking until the end, "Bye."

With that, he extended a hand to guide Pyrrha by the shoulder back down the stairs they'd ascended through. To Blake's surprise, as they descended, a wall slid into place behind them, sealing the stairway off more effectively than any door could have. For a moment, Blake glanced around, ensuring that she was truly alone, before finally allowing tears to fall.

It was for the good of the village. She knew that. But it didn't make it any less painful.

 _XXXX_

Kind of a downer for a first chapter, I know. Things will start looking up a bit next chapter, promise. I've got the whole story planned out, for a change- if all goes according to plan, it'll cap off at nine chapters- including this prologue and an epilogue. As far as shipping goes, since I'm sure some of you are wondering, I'll say up front that, despite any ships I may or may not support, they won't be appearing here. The relationships in this story are intended to be primarily friendship. Of course, if you wish to see romantic subtext, I won't stop you (like I could anyways,) but the only ships the main text will focus on are _friend_ ships... I'll take my coat and go.

Anyways, now that I've ruined any emotional impact this chapter may have had, time for me to sign off. Until next time, please R&R, constructive criticism embraced, flames, not so much, Gamer4 out.

PS: The cover art is 'Nostalgia of the Infinite,' by Giorgio de Chirico, inspiration for the game Ico's cover art, and within the public domain by this point. Just imagine that those figures at the bottom are Blake and Weiss. This time for real, Gamer4 out.


	2. The Girl in White

Gamer4 in, and... wow. That's all I have to say. One day on, and we've already got seven favorites and twelve follows going for us- what more could a fanfic writer ask for, especially when stepping into a new fandom? Really, no complaints here- this response is above and beyond anything I expected. To express my appreciation, let's go ahead and dive right into the next chapter! Hope you guys don't get _too_ annoyed with my notes clashing with the story's tone- let's go!

Disclaimer: Don't get me wrong, I greatly respect Monty Oum, Rooster Teeth, and Team Ico, but really, I should only have to say I don't own their series once. Heck, I doubt a single one of you came into this thinking I _did_ own RWBY or Ico.

Chapter I

The Girl in White

Blake leaned back on the mat. So, this was to be where she died, was it? Never had she imagined going out like this- sacrificed to this castle so the village didn't have to suffer more than its due. Bitterness rose like bile in her throat- after all the time in the village, the only other members of the community with a second of hesitation about locking her away and forgetting she'd ever existed were her closest friends. Hatred welled up within her towards the ears on her head- they made her feel marked, unclean... cursed. Sneering faces filled her mind, images of the less kind villagers who failed to recognize the faunus' sacrifice, pelting them with stones even as they were carted off to a castle that they would never return from, where they would quite possibly never again see the light of day. It was almost enough to make her remember _him..._ his philosophy, that had needled its way into her heart early on. Despite her time with a much more idealistic Yang and Ruby, she had yet to truly free herself from _his_ shackles...

"Ah!"

She leapt to her feet. She'd just rolled over onto her side when she felt something hard poking her waist. That was odd- her pockets had been emptied out before she'd been sent across the lake to this stone prison. By all rights, there shouldn't be anything there to jab at her as she lay there, waiting for her time to come...

Except there was. Rummaging through the offending pocket, she produced a small slip of paper, folded over several times. Her heart was on the verge of failing as she unfolded it, and out from the center fell a small, metal item- a key.

Heart racing, she gazed at the paper itself first. Scrawled on it, in all-too-familiar handwriting, were two lone words: _Castaway Beach._ And suddenly, warmth seemed to spread through Blake as she realized what must have happened. While Ren's training in the arts of stealth naturally lent itself more towards removing items from the pockets of others, it seemed he was also ready to return objects to pockets, should the need arise. It seemed she still had friends on the outside after all.

Moving quickly but quietly, she picked up the key and lifted it to her eyes to examine it closer. Sure enough, if the key's appearance was anything to go by, it would fit neatly into the lock on her cell's door. A slight smirk appeared on her face- she couldn't help wondering if this was Ren's idea from the start, or if Nora had talked him into it. She'd have to ask him- after all, it seemed her death sentence had been revoked.

Keeping both human and feline ears pricked for the sound of any guards (though, now that she thought about it, the only other people she'd seen in the castle thus far had been Pyrrha and Ren,) she approached the bars keeping her trapped in the cell. Mentally crossing all of her fingers, she reached through the bars, turned the key around, and gently pushed it into the lock. To her nervous mind, every sound was deafening- the scrape of metal against metal, the tap-tap-tap of the mechanism within the lock responding to the key... and finally, a cannon blast echoed throughout the dungeon- representing the soft click of the lock undoing itself.

The door swung open. Hardly able to believe it, Blake stepped over the threshold, glancing behind her. She was free.

Well, compared to her situation before now, she was free. She was out of the cell, and in the middle of a dungeon from which there was no immediately obvious means of escape to the outside world. From where she stood, she could spy two doors, and she was aware of the existence of a third- the one through which she'd entered with Pyrrha and Ren, and through which they'd made their own exit. However, that door was currently blocked by a wall, and call her crazy, but she didn't like the idea of giving herself head trauma in the name of chipping away at solid granite.

Of the other two doors, one was too high for her to reach- she wondered if the stairs had rotted or eroded away over time, or if the architect for this castle was simply insane. Either way, that door was of no use to her, leaving only the small wooden portal at the top of a nearby flight of steps for her to try. Praying desperately that it wouldn't be locked, she approached it and tugged on the handle.

It opened up very easily. Breathing a sigh of relief, Blake stepped through and took stock of the situation on the other side.

She seemed to have stepped into a large tower- the room before her was cylindrical, ascending higher and higher with the aid of a spiral staircase. Periodically along the walls was a door that no doubt led elsewhere in the castle. Her heart began to sink. Seeing this place from the outside, she'd known it was a huge building, but it seemed even bigger now that she was faced with the monumental task of navigating her way to the exit, with no idea where to even begin. Nevertheless, she had to start somewhere. A journey of a thousand miles, and all that.

The climb was longer than she'd expected- and she'd expected it to be pretty long. Each door she came to, she tested- the majority of them were locked tight, though others opened into closets, large rooms, or hallways. However, she didn't take any of them, electing instead to see what lay beyond each accessible door before she made her decision.

Finally, many, many stories above where she'd begun this grueling climb, she paused on a landing to catch her breath. Glancing up, she saw that the tower still extended for several floors more. Sighing, she collapsed against the stairs, ready to close her eyes and take a nice, long nap.

"Mirror, mirror, tell me something... who's the loneliest of them all?"

Her eyes snapped open, her ears pricking at the sound of the soft voice, carrying down from even higher up in the tower. She'd thought she was alone in this place- up to this point, she had yet to notice any signs of life. Had she been incorrect?

"Mirror, tell me something, tell me who's the loneliest of them all..."

Steadily, Blake rose to her feet and continued her ascent, trying to trace which door, exactly, this singing was coming from. However, a few more flights up, and the singing began to fade, eventually disappearing altogether. "No!" Blake muttered to herself- if there was someone else in this castle, she wanted to know about it.

She kept her ears pricked for another few minutes that seemed more like a few eternities, but was unable to detect any sounds from the person who seemed to be sharing this tower with her. What she _did_ notice, however, was a delicious smell coming from only a floor or two up. She licked her lips lightly- she hadn't eaten since noon the previous day, when her ears had been revealed to the village. Ever since then, it had simply been preparation for her sacrifice, leaving her wondering if she'd ever get another meal at all. Perhaps it was the circumstances that were making this particular smell so much better than usual- but at this point, she didn't care. Her stomach was grumbling in hunger.

Up two final flights of steps, and through the nearby door, revealing what seemed to be an abnormally large dining room, complete with an incredibly long table, though only set for one.

Blake's eyes flicked to the doors set all around this chamber. Somehow, she doubted that this food was for her, but at the same time, her stomach was yowling at her, making it absolutely clear that if she turned her back on the feast before her, there would be serious consequences down the road. Besides, if she planned on escaping this gargantuan labyrinth of stone, it wasn't something that was going to happen on an empty stomach.

She took a seat, eyeing the food before her- primarily fish from the sea, cut up and prepared by what seemed to be an expert hand. Slowly, gently, she reached for the utensils and began to eat, savoring each bite. Funny- she'd liked fish before, but for some reason, it suddenly tasted better than anything else she'd ever consumed. Chalk it up to hunger, the fact that she'd been expecting to die of starvation or dehydration just an hour or so ago, or- the thought chilled her to her bones- something to do with the ears on her head, currently flicking about, keeping vigilant for any approaching noises-

"Ah!"

-like that gasp. Blake looked up, fork still in hand, paused midway through carrying a bite to her mouth. Just as she had suspected, she was no longer alone- standing in the doorway across from where she'd entered was a girl.

She was short, but not overly so- she seemed to be somewhere in her late teens, around the same age as Blake herself. Her clothing and hair were both blindingly white, hair tied off in a ponytail on the side of her head, keeping it well away from her icy blue eyes- over one of which ran a thin scar. Both eyes were currently wide open as she stared at the intruder currently eating fish at the dining table.

For a long, long moment, neither girl moved. Tension was thick enough to cut with a knife, neither daring to make the first move. At long last, Blake slowly began to lower the fork back to the table. As she watched, the other girl began to move as well- slowly turning around, before bolting off.

"Wait!" Blake called, leaping to her feet and giving chase. "Stop!"

The girl ahead of her skidded as she turned to one side and took off through another door in the adjoining room, Blake hot on her heels. This girl, whoever she was, had an advantage over Blake- she seemed to know exactly where she was going, whereas Blake had to rely on the very person she was chasing for any sense of direction.

On the other hand, it seemed the other girl had significantly less stamina, as well- less than a minute after the chase had begun, she was already panting, compared to Blake who had yet to feel even a tickle in her lungs. The other girl seemed to realize that she was outclassed- she brought the chase into another room, surprising Blake greatly- a vast library, stacked from floor to ceiling with books. In other circumstances, she'd have liked to stop and peruse some of them, but right now, her quarry was escaping. The girl in white darted to a nearby bookshelf, complete with ladder, and scurried up it to a balcony marking a second floor of sorts to the library. The moment she was off the ladder, she kicked it over and turned around to gaze triumphantly at her pursuer, stuck on the ground floor.

"I don't want to hurt you!" Blake called up to her. "I just have some questions!"

The girl narrowed her eyes suspiciously, glancing around to ensure that Blake had no easy access up to the balcony she was perched on. Finally, she turned her gaze back to the faunus, raising a finger and pointing behind her. "Take a seat."

Blake blinked- the girl had suddenly taken on an authoritative stance backed by a rather cold tone of voice. "Huh?"

"If you really just want to talk, take a seat," the girl repeated. Blake glanced around, following the girl's finger to a nearby armchair, presumably for reading any chosen books. Glancing back, she saw the girl with her arms crossed, glaring down at her. Slowly, Blake complied, walking sideways over to the chair so as not to lose sight of her quarry. Once she had assumed the seat, the other girl cleared her throat. "Now, I think I have the right to ask some questions first. To begin with, who are you? For that matter, _what_ -" her gaze seemed to flick pointedly towards the cat ears exposed on Blake's head- "are you?"

A flicker of anger arose in Blake's stomach at the girl's rudeness, but she shook it off. "My name is Blake Belladonna- I'm a faunus."

"A faunus?" the other girl's arms tightened. "Don't try to confuse me with made-up words."

"Made up?" Blake asked, an eyebrow raising. "No, that's the word for people like me- people who grow animal ears, or tails, or anything like that- aren't you one too?"

A shake of the head. "Last time I checked, I don't have any mammalian appendages," the other girl answered curtly.

Now Blake was truly confused- she'd been assuming, up until now, that this girl was in a situation much like her own, confined to the castle after becoming a faunus- was that not the case? "Then how did you get in this castle?" she asked.

For the first time since ascending to the balcony, the girl's brave face seemed to crack. Shaking it off, she tried turning things around again. "I'm the one asking the questions here!"

"No, no, no, this is important to me," Blake interjected. "As far as I can remember, the only people who come into this castle are faunus and their escorts- where do you fit into that?"

The girl faltered again- Blake could tell she was straying onto sensitive territory. "I- that doesn't matter! I- I just live here, okay?"

"You live here?"

"Yeah, here, in this tower! Is that so strange?"

Blake's eyes narrowed. "Yes, it is- because my village has been sacrificing faunus to this tower- this _castle_ \- for years now, and you claim you don't even know what faunus _are_?"

The girl stuttered, looking truly off-put now. "Yes... well... just because I live in this tower doesn't mean I meet up with everyone who passes through it, does it?"

"But not _once_?" Blake asked skeptically. "All this time, and you haven't made contact with someone from the outside, faunus or human, _once_?"

"No!" the girl burst out. "Fine, you got me! You're the only other person I've _ever_ seen in this castle, alright?!"

Silence fell. Blake's jaw fell open, as the girl above turned red, covering her mouth as though she'd let slip something she shouldn't have. "Never?" Blake asked in disbelief. "You've never spoken to another person before?"

Shaking the redness off, the other girl scoffed, attempting to reassert herself. "That's what I said, isn't it? Ever since I came to this castle, I've been alone! Nobody else ever comes in, and nobody _ever_ goes out!"

A great number of thoughts went through Blake's head at that moment, but something about the girl's sentence just now seemed to ring louder than anything else. "Nobody... ever goes out? Meaning you've tried to leave before?"

The girl seemed to curse herself again- she really wasn't doing great at keeping her secrets. "What of it?" she repeated. "Yeah, I've tried to get out, and yeah, I always end up back here again- what's it to you?"

Blake opened and closed her mouth for another few seconds. "Who- who _are_ you?"

The girl leaned back a bit. "My name's Weiss Schnee, if you must know."

 _Schnee_... something about that name tickled Blake's memories. "And... what did you do before you came here?"

Weiss turned red once more, failing to make eye contact as she muttered her response: "Ahdnnknff."

"What was that?"

"I don't know!" Weiss repeated, louder this time. "I've been in this castle as long as I can remember!"

"You mean, you were born here?" Blake asked, trying to make sense of all this.

"No!" Weiss shook her head, groaning with frustration. "I- I just woke up here one day, alright? Just woke up in a bed a few floors away from here, with no idea where I came from or how I got here! The only thing I can remember about the outside is my name- Weiss Schnee! Aside from that, all I know is here, in this castle- and nobody else _ever_ comes into this castle!"

Blake didn't even know what to say anymore. "You mean... you've been all alone... ever since?"

"Well, if you want it in obvious terms, I _suppose_ that would be accurate," Weiss nodded, looking incredibly uncomfortable.

"How long?" Blake asked.

"Excuse me?" Weiss raised an eyebrow.

"How long have you been here- all alone?"

Weiss seemed to be biting her tongue now. "I don't know- I used to keep track, but I lost count at... ten years or so?"

Blake's mind was rejecting this idea outright. Ten years- alone? All alone, with no contact whatsoever from the outside world? "And what about that food?"

"The food I caught you stealing?" Weiss asked, attempting to return to her assertive manner, but failing to put any bite into her words. "I don't know- three times a day, food appears in that room. I never see who makes it or puts it there- sometimes I think it's the castle itself. Other times, I think that's ridiculous... but if there _is_ someone else in this castle, they keep themselves nice and hidden."

"And... in all that time, you've never tried to leave?"

"What kind of question is that?" Weiss suddenly flared up again. "Of _course_ I've tried to leave- who wouldn't? I _hate_ this place- I hate being alone- these books are the only evidence I have the outside world exists at all! When I first came here, I did nothing _but_ try to escape! I know this whole tower- and the parts of the castle closest to it- like the back of my hand! But I can't! I _can't_ leave- nobody can!"

The gears were really turning in Blake's mind now. Slowly, steadily, she came to one single conclusion. "Until now," she muttered.

"Excuse me?" Weiss asked, backing away slightly as Blake rose to her feet.

"Hop on down, Weiss Schnee," Blake gazed up at her. "We're leaving this castle- today."

Weiss scoffed. "Oh, you think you're funny. I'd _love_ to hear how you plan to do that."

"You say you know this tower, right? This place has to have a front gate- just get us as close as you can, and from there, we'll work out how to finish the trip- one step at a time."

Weiss scoffed again. "Well, look who thinks she's special. I've _been_ to the front gate, don't you understand? I could show you the way, easy! But it wouldn't _matter_ \- nobody leaves this castle, ever!"

"And why is that?" Blake prompted.

Weiss seemed to clam up. "Well, it's just that- you see... they just don't, okay?"

"Not okay," Blake shook her head. "I was brought here against my will, and from the sounds of it, so were you. I've got friends on the outside, waiting for me to get out of here and meet up with them, see?"

She removed the paper Ren had slipped into her pocket and tossed it up as high as she could. Weiss reached out and just barely managed to catch the wadded-up note. She unfolded it again, and read out, " _Castaway Beach..._ what's Castaway Beach?"

"A beach, not far from here," Blake explained. "Me and my friends used to go there to play all the time, when we were younger. And, once I get out of here, that's where I'm heading- and I don't plan on leaving without you."

"Why?" Weiss folded her arms. "Why the interest in _me_ all of a sudden?"

Blake was confused- was this girl really so unaware of basic empathy? "Well, because I can't just leave someone who's been trapped here all their life, not when they've spent all that time trying to escape. It just wouldn't be right!"

"Right?" Weiss asked, an eyebrow quirking.

Blake sighed. "Just... trust me on this one, alright? Now, you say you can lead me to the front gate?"

"Yeah... I can," Weiss spoke guardedly.

"Well, think about it- worst case scenario, we get there, can't leave, and you get to rub it in that you were right. But best case scenario- we get there, you're _wrong,_ and we _both_ get to leave this place- I'll take you through the forest and all the way to Castaway Beach, we'll meet up with my friends, and you can finally see the outside world! What do you have to lose?"

Weiss bit her lip, glancing around herself as though afraid the walls would hear what she said next. "Nothing... I suppose..."

"Then come on down," Blake offered a hand. The slightest of smirks crossing her face, she added, "No need to be the loneliest of them all anymore."

Weiss turned violently red and began spluttering. "You- you heard that?"

"It wasn't a bad song," Blake reassured her. "Personally, I'd have shifted around the lyrics a bit- 'Mirror, mirror on the wall' rolls off the tongue a bit better, but maybe that's just me..."

Weiss eyed her suspiciously for a moment before motioning to the ladder she'd kicked over earlier. "Alright, put the ladder up. I'll show you to the front gate. But _only,_ " she added quickly, "so you understand why we can't leave, got it?"

"Got it," Blake nodded. "And I'll follow you, so you'll see that we can." As she spoke, she crossed the room to the ladder and raised it up for her. Weiss swung around onto the rungs and slowly descended, at long last turning to face her new ally. "So, want to introduce ourselves properly now?" Blake asked, extending a hand. "Blake Belladonna."

Weiss glanced away, but slowly reached up and accepted the handshake nonetheless. "Weiss Schnee," she nodded curtly.

Blake smiled. "See? You can be nice when you try. Come on- the sooner we get out of here, the sooner I get to meet up with my friends."

Still somewhat reluctantly, Weiss stepped ahead of Blake, guiding her back to the staircase, and officially beginning their journey to the castle's exit.

 _XXXX_

Honestly, I was expecting this chapter to go on a bit longer, but that seemed like a better cut-off point that I initially had planned. It's started to make me wonder if that nine-chapter ultimatum might not be a tad ambitious- I didn't think so at first, but now... well, you know what, I'll turn to you guys. Would you rather have a story with a small number of longer chapters, or a large number of shorter chapters? Like I said, I already know where the story's going- just trying to piece together just how broken up it'll be.

Aside from that, just in the time it took me to type this up, we have _another two_ followers! Holy cats, (no, Simba, I'm not talking to you,) I _never_ expected this from my first foray into RWBY! You guys are all awesome, and I hope the story as it develops will meet your expectations. There might be a longer break between this chapter and the next because I _do_ have another story to attend to, but rest assured I will not forget my due with this tale. Hope to see you all next time, and until then, please R&R, constructive criticism embraced, flames, not so much, Gamer4 out!


	3. A Leap of Faith

Gamer4 in. Not much to say here, so instead of wasting your time trying to come up with something _to_ say, we'll just go ahead and dive into the next chapter.

Disclaimer: Speaking of wasting time trying to come up with something to say...

Chapter II

A Leap of Faith

"I suppose this wasn't part of your plan."

"You suppose correctly."

Blake sighed as she gazed across the bridge Weiss had guided her to- their route from the tower to the main castle. It was broken beyond all possible repair, leaving a ten-foot long chasm between them and their goal, with no immediately obvious way across.

"So, this bridge was still intact last time you tried to escape?"

"Yes, but that was years ago... it must have worn away since then."

Blake doubted that- something about these jagged edges- as well as the thorough nature of the destruction- bespoke of a somewhat less natural cause for the bridge's disappearance. "So... do you know any other ways to get to the main castle."

"Maybe," Weiss bit her lip, not looking overly confident. "This is the way I always used."

"Well, jumping across is out of the question. I doubt anyone I know could make this jump." Examining the gap closer, a slight smirk crossed her face. "Well, maybe on a really good day, Pyrrha _might_ kinda-sorta make it across... then stumble at the opposite edge and fall down anyways."

"Pyrrha?" Weiss asked, glancing at her companion with question marks in her eyes.

"One of my friends on the outside," Blake explained. "We always like to joke about how invincible she is."

"And... she's the one who slipped you the key?"

"No, that was Ren," Blake shook her head.

"So... she was fine with you getting locked away?"

Blake snorted, recalling the tears pouring down Pyrrha's face as she'd turned to leave. "I wouldn't go that far."

"But she still allowed it?"

"Well, yeah- not that she had any choice. I'm still willing to bet she'll be at Castaway Beach when we get there, apologizing again and again until the five hundredth time I forgive her."

A confused look crossed Weiss's face, but rather than verbalize whatever was on her mind, she shook her head and turned her attention to the gap. "Maybe we should just go back. I'm telling you, there's no way out of here."

"And _I'm_ telling _you,_ I won't rest until I see my friends at Castaway Beach," Blake shot back. "I said I'd get us out of this castle, and that's a promise I don't intend to go back on at the first hurdle. If you really want to give up, go ahead, but I don't plan on staying here any longer than I have to."

"What's your plan?" Weiss continued to debate. "The only way to the main castle is out, and there's no exit in this tower!"

"The only way _you know of_ is out," Blake corrected, her eyes raking up and down the tower they currently stood outside. "But I suspect that if we look hard enough..."

A snap of her fingers, and Blake was smiling as she pointed up above them. "Does that crane still work?"

"Crane?" Weiss asked, glancing back and following Blake's finger up to where there was, indeed, a large crane hanging off the side of the tower. It was just barely visible from where they stood- several stories above them- but there it was.

"Haven't you been to that part of the castle before?"

"I doubt it- and even if I did, I would've left it alone once I realized there was no way out there."

"You know what your problem is?" Blake asked, turning to her with her arms across her chest. "You have trouble thinking outside the box. Where you see a crane, I see our ticket out of here."

"You see how high up that crane is?" Weiss countered. "There's no way it reaches all the way down to the ground." For emphasis, she pointed to the ground beneath them- even from where they stood, it was- at minimum- a fifty-foot drop to the bottom of the castle, and even from there, the castle was perched at the edge of a cliff, which continued down for another few hundred feet before ending with seething waves.

"Like I said, trouble thinking outside the box," Blake repeated. "Come on, back into the tower- we'll find a way up to that crane."

Weiss still looked confused, but nonetheless, followed Blake into the room they'd just exited- a large, round chamber with wide windows allowing in plenty of sunlight, a narrow trench through the center, and a small bridge spanning said trench.

"Does anything about this room strike you as... odd?" Blake asked, rotating around on the bridge in order to take in the chamber in its entirety.

"Odd?"

"Anything... out of place?"

Weiss glanced from one side to the other, but ultimately threw up her hands in defeat. "No, I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Not even that?" Blake queried, pointing upwards again. Weiss blinked as she glanced up- and saw a door placed in the wall several feet above the ground, where no human could reach it.

"What- how did you-"

"I think you're too used to this castle," Blake mused, looking concerned. "So used to it as it is that you don't notice things that are right in front of you."

"Well, that's nice," Weiss's eyes narrowed, "but what good does it do us? I doubt we could reach that door even standing on each other's shoulders."

"True," Blake nodded, "but there has to be _some_ way up there..."

Weiss had no idea what Blake was looking for, her hands running across various bricks on the walls, taking strides across the ground, feline ears pricked all the while. Eventually, her attention seemed to be drawn to a large crate sitting in the middle of the trench, beneath the bridge. A slight smirk crossed her face. "Could it really be that simple?"

She pressed hard against the crate, pushing it aside. To Weiss's amazement, the floor beneath it seemed to rise up from the ground. As it did, a loud grinding noise filled the chamber, and from one of the walls, a great staircase appeared, each individual step sliding out one at a time. Weiss's jaw dropped. "How... how did you know that was there?"

"I didn't," Blake admitted. "I've just read plenty of books with castles with secret passageways, so I thought it was worth a shot, if nothing else."

"And if we hadn't found a way?"

"If we couldn't get up from this room, I'm sure we'd find a way from another. This just sped up the process a bit."

Weiss stared for several long minutes, trying to comprehend her companion's thought processes, all while Blake crossed her arms and smiled back.

The smile slid off Blake's face when she spied Weiss's look of confusion turning into one of horror. "No..." the girl rasped out, her voice filling with dread. "No!"

Blake spun around, and her heart almost stopped- a circle of darkness had appeared on the ground behind her, and stepping out of it was a gigantic creature- a wolf, of sorts, made of pure darkness, except for a white, bony mask at the front of its face.

Weiss, seemingly petrified at the sight, fell to the ground, kicking and propelling herself as far from the creature as she could. "I didn't- I'm sorry! I wasn't going to leave- I just wanted to show her that we can't!"

Blake spun around again to face the wolf- it was seemingly ignoring her entirely, walking within an inch or two of her, but not sparing her so much as a glance as it continued to growl and bear down menacingly on Weiss.

Blake's eyes narrowed, and she leapt forward, tackling the wolf from behind, wrapping her arms around its throat. It let out a howl, spinning and thrashing around, until it finally managed to knock her off, sending her sprawling into the trench. For the first time, it acknowledged her presence, crossing to the trench's edge and snarling down at her- before turning back towards Weiss, cowering at the other end of the room with her arms over her head.

Blake rolled over, forcing herself back to her feet. As she did, she stumbled over something- glancing down, she saw a long piece of wood, too large to brush aside as a stick, too small to call a log either. Glancing between it and the wolf, she came to a decision- it was far from her first choice of weaponry, but beggars can't be choosers. She lifted it up, spinning it around in her hands to get a feel for it, before lunging forward again, bringing it down on the wolf's head.

The wolf snarled, thrashing around as it turned to glare at her. Well, that was a step in the right direction, at least. She had its full and undivided attention.

It growled and began to circle her- she lowered herself slightly into a more defensive position and followed suit, one foot beside the other, drawing them both into a loop around the ground. Finally, the wolf broke it, leaping forward towards his new prey. Blake dodged to the side and swung the stick as hard as she could- with a deafening *CRACK!* it connected with the beast's mask.

Spinning around again, her heart dropped- despite the noise from earlier, the wolf seemed largely unharmed. Glancing at the stick she'd picked up, she saw the true source of the noise- the lengthy piece of wood had fractured, leaving it somewhat shorter than before, with a new, jagged edge. Alright, then, new plan...

Once again, she and the wolf circled each other, until the wolf leapt forward, growling furiously. Again, Blake dodged, but this time, rather than swinging, she spun around mid-leap, turning the stick over and bringing the pointed end down on top of the wolf's head, missing the mask and hitting the vulnerable shadow.

The wolf let out a loud yowl of pain as it collapsed to the ground, dark mist oozing from the top of its head like blood from the wound of a normal animal. As it collapsed, the smoke making up its body seemed to dissipate, the lights of its eyes behind its mask fading away into darkness, until where the wolf once lay, there was only a faunus clutching tightly onto a stick, currently lodged in a crack in the stone floor.

Slowly, Blake looked up from where she was squatting, lifting her stick from the ground with minimal effort and turning to face the black circle from which the beast had come- even as she turned to look at it, it shrunk, turning into a fine black mist that rose into the air and faded into nothing.

Her breast heaving slightly, Blake turned towards Weiss, still curled up against the wall, eyes wide at what she'd just witnessed. "How..."

"What... was that thing?" Blake asked, glancing pointedly at where the creature had vanished.

Slowly, shaking, Weiss returned to her feet. "I... I call them grimm."

"Grimm?" Blake repeated.

"Creatures of shadow... they appear whenever I try to leave," Weiss explained, attempting to take a step forward- she stumbled, and Blake leapt forward to bring her back to her feet. "They come for me... hunt me down... it doesn't matter if I hide, they always find me... they drag me back to those circles... and then... it hurts... it hurts so much... and at the end of it all, I wake up, back in my bed in the tower..."

Weiss's back began to jerk, characteristic of sobbing. Blake, uncertain how to react, patted her on the back gently. "And... you didn't think to tell me about these things before?"

"I didn't think they'd appear if I wasn't actually trying to leave," Weiss admitted, shaking her head. "And even if they did... I never thought they could be fought... I thought whether I told you about them or not, it would end the same way..."

Blake was stunned. True, she'd only just met this girl, but in that time, she'd gone to great lengths to project an aura of strength and determination- and here she was, showing another side, a much more... broken side.

It didn't last much longer. As if she'd suddenly realized what she was doing, the girl in white leapt back from the girl in black, dusting herself off, wiping her face, giving a cough, and re-assuming her upright, poised position of earlier. "Now... you said our next location is the crane, right?"

"Yes..." Blake nodded, not certain how to react to all this. Weiss's body language right now said very clearly that she did _not_ wish to discuss what had just transpired, but she had to know... "And... those grimm..."

"What about them?" Weiss asked, already halfway up the stairs, crossing her arms and gazing out of the window as she responded to Blake's query.

"They're the reason you thought we couldn't leave?"

Barely noticeably, Weiss slumped- Blake wouldn't have noticed it if she hadn't been looking for it. Even then, it lasted only a fraction of a second. "Y...yes. They've always been... my biggest obstacle..."

Blake's eyes narrowed- she could tell Weiss wasn't giving her the whole story, but for the life of her, she couldn't piece together why the girl in white would be keeping any other secrets. Either way, it didn't seem she'd be getting much more out of her at the moment. "Alright, then let's get to that crane," she finally decided on her next line of speech, hoisting her makeshift weapon over her shoulder and beginning to climb the steps after Weiss. "If any more show up, I think I can take them."

Weiss bit her lip, gaze out of the window hardening. She softened, ever so slightly, when she felt a hand on her shoulder, turning to find Blake doing her best to express comfort through her eyes. "Weiss... it's going to be okay. This time tomorrow, we'll be relaxing in the sun, the lake's waves tapping at our feet... it'll be fun."

Weiss shook her head, somewhat listlessly, but allowed Blake to take her hand and guide her through the door and out of that chamber.

On the other side, a balcony stretched around the outside of the tower, allowing a decent view of the ground far below as the duo made their way across to the door on the other side.

Blake cursed as she grasped the door's handle, only for it to stand against her. "Locked," she muttered.

"Locked?" Weiss asked, sounding surprised.

"Is that really so strange?" Blake asked, turning on her, arms crossed. "Half the doors in the tower are locked."

"They are?" Weiss asked, sounding genuinely confused. " _I've_ never had any trouble opening the doors around this place."

"And yet you've never been able to leave?"

"Well, like I said," Weiss gazed at the ground. "It... it was never locked doors that made this place a prison. Maybe you just weren't pulling hard enough? Like-"

Blake gasped. Weiss had reached out for the handle, and as she approached, a strange electricity seemed to crackle around her body, spreading towards her hand and arcing towards the door. What it was, Blake couldn't imagine, but when Weiss pulled at the handle, the door easily swung open for her.

"How- how did you..."

Weiss looked back at her. "A lot of the doors in the castle do that when I open them. Is that... strange?"

"Little bit," Blake nodded. "So, there are doors in this castle that'll only open for you..."

Weiss looked very uncomfortable under Blake's scrutinizing gaze. "How about we just go in?" Blake nodded again, quite mutely, as the two crossed the threshold into the next chamber.

They found themselves raised high above the ground- below them was a large, empty room, the only door available a similar height above the ground- on the opposite side, with no obvious means of access. There _were_ stairs from their location to the ground floor... on the other side of a door.

"What is _wrong_ with this place?" Blake wondered aloud, staring at the door so close, yet so far away. "Who designs a door with no way to get to it?"

"Maybe there _were_ some steps, once, but they've rotted away over time," Weiss suggested. "This castle _is_ quite old."

Blake shook her head as she crossed to the door that would allow them to the ground floor. She reached out and attempted to pull it open- only to turn back to Weiss. "This door won't open for me. Do you mind?" She stood aside, motioning towards the barrier. Weiss nodded and approached the door in her place.

Blake knew it was hopeless before Weiss had even tried- the lack of crackling energy seemed to signal Weiss's hopeless glance back at her. "It... it won't open for me, either."

Blake cursed under her breath. "This was _not_ how I wanted to spend my day," she muttered, gazing over the railing at the floor below. "Hmm... it's not _that_ far of a drop..."

And, as Weiss watched, hand over her mouth, Blake climbed up to the top of the railing, leaping from the balcony and landing deftly on the floor. Turning, she looked back at the panicked-looking Weiss. "Yup, no trouble. Come on- time to find a way up to that door."

Weiss stuttered slightly. "I... I can't..."

"Can't what?" Blake asked, tapping the ground with her foot. "Nice, easy drop. Even if you landed wrong, your aura ought to protect you from a short fall like this."

"...Aura?"

Blake's eyes widened. "What?"

"That's what _I_ was asking," Weiss objected. "What do you mean by 'aura?'"

"Weiss... you _do_ know what aura is, don't you?"

Weiss seemed to clam up again- as good as a solid confession. Blake blinked. "What exactly _is_ in those books in that library of yours?"

"Clearly, not what you expect," Weiss crossed her arms, her eyebrows knitting. "So, what _is_ aura?"

"A manifestation of our souls," Blake explained. "All living beings have one- and if we can tap into it properly, it protects us from harm. A little fall like this- it would be nothing."

"Well, that sounds nice," Weiss huffed, "but I don't exactly know _how_ to tap into this... aura... thing, so I guess you'll just have to find a way to open up the door."

Blake sighed. "True... trying something like this before unlocking one's aura _can_ be dangerous... alright, I'll look around."

As she turned to explore the room more thoroughly, she heard a cough behind her. Turning, she motioned for Weiss to speak her mind.

"You will... right?"

"Will what?"

"Open the door- you won't just leave me behind, will you?"

Blake was taken aback- here, again, was that vulnerable side that the girl in white seemed so intent on hiding, shocking her so much whenever it _did_ peek out. "Of course," Blake nodded. Turning again, she was only out of Weiss's line of sight for a couple minutes before she found a lever- pulling it caused the door above to slide open- Weiss wasted no time in passing through and descending the stairs to where Blake was waiting for her.

"So... how do we plan on getting up to that door?" Weiss asked, looking somewhat wrong-footed.

"In a second," Blake shook her head. "First, your aura- let's get it unlocked first. It'll be a big handicap on us if we don't."

Weiss looked awkward as Blake approached, placing her hands on either side of her face. "Close your eyes," she ordered. "Concentrate." Weiss still looked uncertain, but did as she was bid. Blake nodded, closing her own eyes and beginning reciting the words that every resident of her village had heard as a child- "'For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all. Infinite in distance, unbound by death, I release your soul, and by your shoulder, protect thee.'"

Blake released Weiss and backed up- she was glowing white. At long last, she opened her eyes. "And that did... what?"

"You should have access to your aura now," Blake said simply. "For someone who never heard of it until today... I could sense a great deal of potential within you. It'll take practice, but once you've gotten the hang of it... I look forward to seeing what you're capable of."

Turning on her heel, she left the bemused Weiss behind as she approached the ledge above which was their door. "Now, as for this ledge..."

Looking up, she saw a long rope hanging from the ceiling, coming to a stop right in front of her. Turning back to Weiss, following not far behind, she asked, "Can you climb?"

"Ladders? No problem. Rope? Not so much," Weiss shook her head.

"Well, then, I'll pull you up," Blake shrugged, reaching out, grabbing the rope, and pulling herself up along it. Once she'd attained her desired height, she began to swing the rope back and forth, and, once she'd achieved her desired momentum, let go and flung herself through the air, landing catlike once more in front of her goal. Turning back to the ledge, she reached out. "Come on- the crane awaits."

"I still don't see why we're so eager to get to this crane," Weiss shook her head, but nonetheless reached out and allowed Blake to pull her up and continue guiding her through the open door.

They were, once again, on the outside of the castle, climbing a long series of stairs carrying them ever higher and higher above the ground, until they'd arrived at the tower's roof.

Weiss crossed her arms, glaring down at the ground. "So, what's our next move, genius? Now that we've gotten about as far from our goal as possible?"

Blake had her hand to her chin, eyes narrowed as they gazed around the outside of the tower. Finally, she asked, "Any idea where that cart goes?"

Weiss spun around to see a cart, more characteristic of mines than anything else, perched at the edge of the roof, fixed to a set of rails that spiraled downwards. "Well... no, I've never- wait, you're not saying-"

"If I had to guess, I'd say the cart and the crane are connected somehow," Blake nodded. "They'd both be useful in building- or repairing- the castle, for one thing. If I had to guess, I'd say that these rails run right by the crane at _one_ point or another."

Weiss shook her head as she followed Blake onto the cart. "You're something else, you know that?"

"That's what Yang always said," Blake gave a smile of remembrance as she moved the lever at the cart's top, sending them forward. Throughout the ride, she kept her eyes on the track ahead, ready to hit the brakes at a moment's notice.

"So, where did you get these skills of yours?" Weiss asked as her hair was picked up by the wind.

"Skills?"

"The aura, scampering up and down ropes like it's no big deal, managing to find hidden paths all over the place, always landing on your feet after jumping..."

"Well, cats always _do_ land on their feet," Blake muttered wryly, rubbing her hand along those accursed ears.

"You know what I mean," Weiss crossed her arms, looking severe. "Aura or no aura, nobody just jumps off a ledge without a second thought- and the way you took out that grimm..."

It was Blake's turn to clam up. Finally, she shook her head slightly. "Let's just say I had a good teacher." Under her breath, prompting Weiss to strain her ears to hear it, she added, "Who turned out to be a bad person."

Weiss raised an eyebrow, but Blake tended to back off when she made it clear she didn't want to discuss something, and she resolved to return the favor.

At long last, the cart came to a stop, and only a short stone walkway away from the end of the track, sure enough, was...

"And there's our crane," Blake nodded, allowing herself another small smile as she leapt out of the cart, Weiss not far behind. "Just a second- it looks like the controls are up there..."

Weiss stared as Blake began to climb up the side of the castle, finding foot-and-handholds where Weiss could never have located them. Eventually, she arrived at the crane's top, where a pair of levers awaited her. Leaning over, she saw a chain protruding from the crane, at the very bottom of which was a large crate of some kind. "Weiss!" she called out. "I'm going to bring the crane around- I want you to jump to the crate when I tell you, alright?"

"Crate? What crate?" Weiss called back, but it was too late- Blake was already flipping the levers around, raising the crate up to their level and sending it spinning around towards Weiss, whose eyes widened as she realized Blake's plan- and what it expected of her.

"Are you crazy?" she objected as the crane's creaking died down. "You want me to jump to this unstable garbage and use _it_ to get across the bridge?"

"That's the idea, yeah!" Blake called back. "Hold on tight to the rope- it might get a little bumpy! I'm going to move it into position, then I'll rappel down to you!"

"I'm not getting on that crate!" Weiss shook her head fervently. "Sorry, but I choose life!"

"So, you're just going to head back to the tower and keep on... _living_ here after how far we've gotten?" Blake narrowed her eyes. "Look, you're closer to leaving now than you've ever been before- the chance is right in front of you, just reach out and take it!"

Weiss still looked incredibly doubtful, but the crate _was_ right there, inches in front of her, beckoning- the chance to leave the castle behind, once and for all, and seek a new life on the outside...

"Alright!" she caved. "But if you drop me..."

"Don't worry," Blake shook her head. "I won't."

Weiss looked incredibly nervous as she stepped out onto the crate. Her heart began racing as it tilted in her direction, gravity taking its toll. Hurrying, she scampered to the rope in the middle, bringing the crate into a better balance and giving herself something to cling to like a lifeline.

"Alright, hold on tight!" Blake repeated, before moving the levers around. Weiss's stomach was doing somersaults as the crate lowered towards the ground- not as quickly as it had risen, for her sake, but still faster than she'd have liked. Next came her stomach attempting to exit her body altogether as the crane swung its load around the side of the tower, before bringing it into a position squarely in the middle of the gap in the bridge that had started this detour in the first place.

"Are you alright down there?" Blake's voice came, softer with distance.

"I... I think so!" Weiss called back, gazing across the remainder of the chasm. Even with their makeshift bridge, that was still quite the distance...

Blake, however, smiled as she rose from the controls, climbed out onto the crane, inching along until she arrived at the chain, and began to climb down. Eventually, she slackened her grip on it until she was sliding down, fireman-style.

Weiss jumped slightly as Blake landed next to her with a thud. "Um, Blake?" she asked, pointing towards her previous observation. "We have a problem."

"And what might that be?" Blake asked, sounding genuinely curious as she gazed towards the main castle. "Our door is right over there."

"That's still quite a leap to make," Weiss pointed out. "Are you sure...?"

"That I can make it? Yeah," Blake nodded. "Watch."

Weiss's heart leapt again as Blake headed towards the crate's edge, sending it further off-balance. She crouched down, took a running start, and leapt- miraculously clearing the distance, tucking and rolling to the stone on the other side. Turning, she beckoned to Weiss. "Alright, your turn!"

"Are you crazy? I can't jump that!" Weiss shook her head fervently. "Maybe that jump's easy for _faunus,_ but as for me-"

"It wasn't because I'm a faunus!" Blake objected, approaching the edge and extending her hand. "Look, you don't even have to make the jump- just make it to my hand! I'll catch you and pull you up!"

"This is insane!" Weiss shouted back. "I'm risking my life just to get to the front gates, where we'll just have to turn back and go through all this again anyways!"

"Weiss!" Blake called back, her eyes narrowed slightly. "Trust me- jump over, and if you fall, I'll catch you. No danger- I'll catch you. Trust me."

Weiss still hesitated, glancing to the side and witnessing the hundreds of feet between her and the bottom of the cliffs below. She bit her lip, unwilling to let go of the chain keeping her up. Looking back across the gap, she saw Blake leaning as far over the gap as she likely dared, arm outstretched, eyes wide. "Trust me," she whispered one more time.

Every muscle in her body screaming that what she was about to do was suicide, Weiss released her grip on the chain and began inching across the crate, creaking and groaning at the shift in weight. Taking a deep breath, trying to calm her racing heart, she crouched down as she'd seen Blake do, and began to run, her feet finally propelling her across the gap.

For a moment, everything seemed fine- until she looked down, and realized that her leap wasn't enough to clear the gap. She let out a scream, arms flailing as gravity began to take its toll on her again-

Until something warm seized her. Looking up, she saw her arm in a tight grip, courtesy of one Blake Belladonna, half her body hanging over the edge, arm outstretched and seizing her own. Blake smiled. "Told you I'd catch you."

Weiss remained quiet as Blake threw all her strength into pulling Weiss up next to her, where she swiftly got as far away from the ledge as possible before laying on the ground, chest heaving as she fought to steady her heart.

Blake approached her, and collapsed at her side, looking somewhat winded herself. "Well, that was... a thing."

"Never," Weiss shook her head listlessly. "Never again."

"Get used to it," Blake heaved. "Might end up doing that a few more times, if the rest of the castle is in this much disrepair."

"Not much further to go," Weiss shook her head, extending an arm to tap on the door that had been their goal from the start. "Through there is the entrance hall- and on the other side, the courtyard. Past that... the front gate."

"So we're only two rooms away?" Blake asked, feline ears perking as she whipped her head to look at Weiss.

"Yeah... two... rooms... away," Weiss nodded. "But first... I need some rest."

"Honestly, that doesn't sound like a bad idea to me, either," Blake shook her head. Glancing across the 'bridge' to the tower, she smiled. "Not a bad idea at all.

 _XXXX_

1...2...3... HAPPY NEW YEAR! Kinda- it's actually 8:33 where I am at the time of posting this, so it's a few and a half hours before the years over at this end. You lucky dogs over there in the future... truth be told, I was planning on updating earlier, but then my _lovely_ computer crashed, and by the time it got fixed, it was so close to the new year, I thought I'd make this chapter the subject of my annual tradition- uploading a chapter for the new year. Also, in full confession, this chapter was originally intended to go on longer- at least to the front gate- but a reflection on upcoming events and chapter length led me to the conclusion that this was the better stopping place. So next chapter will see the front gates- hopefully, that'll be up soon, but I won't give any specifics- readers of my other stories will be well aware of the curse that kicks in whenever I do that.

Anyways, hope you all enjoyed, and to let me know, please R&R, constructive criticism embraced, flames, not so much, Gamer4 out!


	4. At the Front Gates

Gamer4 in. Well, with my sleeping schedule even more messed up than usual for the past couple days, I figured there was no better way to spend one of my waking hours writing up the next chapter for ya. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Ico... RWBY... Ico... RWBY...

Chapter III

At the Front Gates

The sun had reached its peak in the sky, and begun its descent towards the western horizon. Blake looked up, taking note as she rose to her feet once more. "Weiss," she muttered, nudging the other girl gently on the shoulder. "It's time to get going."

"Hmm?" Weiss grunted as she looked up as well. "Oh. Right. The entrance hall."

Blake turned and approached the door they'd gone through so much trouble to get to- only for it to remain steadfast against her attempts to open it. "Weiss? Care to give this door a try?"

Weiss nodded, stepping forward and reaching for the handle. Once again, that strange, electricity-like energy crackled around her, spreading across her body, ultimately to her hand, where it jumped to the handle, prompting the door to creak open.

The room on the other side was dark, tainted with the smell of mildew. If Blake had ever wanted a room that perfectly illustrated the disrepair this castle had fallen into over the years... here it was. They stood on a second-floor balcony, wrapping around the massive chamber, with a bridge spanning the length of the gap between- broken off at one end, supported by a series of wooden beams that had clearly seen better days. A flight of steps led to the lower floor- or what was left of it. The door on the lower floor, on the opposite side of the hall seemed to be the one Weiss was leading her towards- the door to the courtyard- but that was on the other side of a large abyss, where the floor had fallen away, revealing a steep fall down to the lake below. The stairs were virtually useless.

On the opposite side of the upper level was a series of stained glass windows- many of which were shattered, and several more of which were boarded up. A great deal of the ceiling had rotted or fallen away, leaving only the rafters behind, and just enough stone to support a very unstable-looking chandelier, held up by a rusty chain. Fallen, broken... all words that could be used to describe this hall, yet Blake couldn't help but wonder at the majesty this place had once held, in years past, before the castle had been left abandoned up on these cliffs.

"Well," Weiss was the first to speak, "this _is_ a problem."

"I take it this place was in better shape last time?"

"Yes," Weiss nodded, arms crossed, a slightly sad look on her face, as though she, too, could sense the phantoms of what had once been. "That pit... that wasn't there before. It was just a quick walk down the stairs and across the hall."

"I see," Blake nodded, a hand to her chin as she took in the room. "Well, there's no jumping down from the other side- aura or no aura, I don't think even _I'd_ be making that jump."

"So... what are we going to do?"

Blake couldn't help but smile- there was a note of expectation in Weiss's voice, as though she was slowly but steadily coming to anticipate that no matter what problem they encountered, Blake would find a solution. "What we really need," she mused, feeling for the sharpened stick she carried with her still, "is a bridge across... and for that... yeah, that should work... wait here a second."

Weiss stared as Blake set out across the bridge towards the opposite end of the room, leaping lightly across the small gap at the end. She stood briefly silhouetted against the light filtering in through the windows before climbing up, grabbing onto one sill after another, higher and higher into the chamber. Eventually, she came to the rafters, where she threw all her coordination and balance into making her way across the narrow boards that had once supported the roof. Finally, she arrived at the chandelier, where she examined the chain closely, selecting what seemed to be the most rust-damaged link before sliding her stick into it and beginning to pull.

Her plan seemed to work better than she herself had expected- before she'd thrown anywhere near her whole weight behind her makeshift lever, the link snapped, clearly more damaged than she'd foreseen. The chandelier came crashing down onto the bridge, the faunus holding on for dear life.

The noise echoed through the hall, prompting Weiss to cover her ears- she could only imagine what the noise must be like for Blake, at the center of it all, with a pair of cat ears to hear it with perfect clarity. Nevertheless, the fall had the desired effect- the rotted, worn pillars holding the bridge up buckled beneath the sudden weight, before crumbling away altogether. The far end of the bridge, without its supports, let out yet another crashing noise as it landed on the first floor, creating a perfect ramp from where Weiss stood to right in front of the door to the courtyard.

Weiss, however, had more important things on her mind- namely, the girl in black who had flopped off of the chandelier just in time to watch it slide off the new ramp and crash away into the abyss below. "Blake!" she called, not allowing her fear of heights to waylay her as she hurried down the ramp to where Blake was laying. "Are you alright?"

To her enormous relief, Blake nodded as she pulled herself to her feet. "Yeah, yeah... I'm fine. Just... do me a favor, okay? Never let me do that again."

Weiss gave a low, hollow chuckle. "Your... your forehead..."

Blake reached up towards her face- when she lowered her hand, it was to find it stained with blood. "No worries," she shook her head. "I'll be fine- let's just get to... that... door..."

Weiss froze as she saw the look of horror spreading across Blake's face- she turned to see several black circles forming above them on the balcony. Out of them were stepping various creatures, seemingly formed of dark smoke, decorated only with a bony white mask. Wolves, bears, a dark, cawing raven...

"Get to the next door," Blake spoke quietly yet firmly, stepping in front of her and putting a protective arm between Weiss and the oncoming grimm.

"But what about you?" Weiss asked, her eyes narrowing in concern.

"They don't care about me, they're here for you, remember? I'll hold them off- get to the courtyard!"

Weiss didn't like it, but did as she was told, leaving Blake to distract the creatures advancing down the ramp as she lowered herself to the ground floor and advanced towards the door. Before reaching out for it, she glanced back, seeing Weiss preparing her stick in a battle stance. Reaching out, she swiped the raven out of the air, sending it into the abyss- this action alone seemed to put the other grimm on their guard. A rampaging boar pushed its way to the front, tackling her dead-on, sending them both tumbling down towards the ground. For a moment, they rolled around, until Blake managed to push it over the cliff, swiftly rising to her feet and turning to face the other monstrosities that were flooding the chamber.

"Blake!" Weiss called out urgently.

"The door!" Blake called out again, bracing herself against the oncoming storm.

Weiss bit her lip one last time before turning to the door and reaching out to open it.

Once again, electricity coursed through her body, spreading across every inch of her as it made its way towards the handle. But this time, something was different- in addition to the handle, the energy began to arc around the room, stretching all the way from Weiss's body to all the creatures of grimm advancing on the pair. Blake blinked, awestruck as they all collapsed to the ground, writhing and screeching in pain, and... just like that, began to dissipate, vanishing just as thoroughly as the first wolf she'd encountered. Glancing up at the dark circles they'd first appeared from, she saw them vanishing as well. Her jaw hanging open, she turned to look at Weiss. "What... what did you do?"

Weiss seemed just as taken aback as she was, gazing at her hands in astonishment. "I never- that's never- I... _how..._ "

Blake's eyes were wide, but she shook her surprise off swiftly. "Well, I wish we'd known _that_ little tidbit sooner," she forced a smile. "Maybe you should open with that next time, huh?"

Weiss nodded mutely, still fixated on the lines and swirls of her palms. Finally, she looked up at a hand on her shoulder. "Hey," Blake spoke cajolingly, "that's a neat trick up your sleeve. Keep that in mind for the next two rooms, and we'll be out of here before sundown."

Weiss gave a loose nod and followed Blake through the double doors into the courtyard.

Compared to the ruin of the previous room, the courtyard shone brightly- very few bricks were out of place. A series of winding staircases tangled their way around the area, brightly lit beneath the sun, leading to several more doors that would likely take them deeper into the castle, but that wasn't their goal- Weiss guided Blake down the staircases they needed to take to get to the ground level, and another pair of double doors that, if the girl in white was to be believed, would take them to the front gates.

At long last, there were the doors. Weiss stepped ahead for a change, reaching out her hands. As usual, the energy appeared, crackling around her and forcing the doors open, revealing another, smaller courtyard lined with torches, filled with grass and flowers, and culminating in a pair of double doors, open and ready for them to pass. Blake couldn't help grinning- behind the double doors was a long, stone bridge over the vast lake below, culminating in a small gate which, once they passed, would mark the end of this little excursion- the moment Blake took control and guided them to Castaway Beach.

"We're almost there," she smiled over at Weiss, only to be shocked at how nervous the girl in white still looked.

"Yeah... almost there," she muttered, hands together and eyes on the ground.

"What's wrong?" Blake asked. "The exit's right there- just a few more steps, and-"

She'd grabbed onto Weiss's hand and was leading her forward, only for their crossing to be interrupted by a column of flame appearing in the courtyard's center, reaching up to the sky. Blake leapt backwards, once again raising an arm in front of Weiss. Squinting, she managed to see a silhouette within the flames- just barely. Glancing behind her, she saw Weiss, quaking as she gazed upon the inferno. Her attention was seized by the fire once more as a voice spoke from within it- obscured by the crackling of the flames, but its words rang clear: "Weiss, my dear, sweet, innocent child... why do you seek to leave me?"

"I... I..."

Blake cast her eyes back again- so, Weiss _was_ aware of this... thing.

"I have already told you, my girl- you cannot survive in the outside world. It is I who took you in- I who protect you."

"I... I wasn't going to leave!" Weiss objected, shaking like a leaf. "I just wanted to show her why we can't!"

"Ah, yes..." the figure turned towards Blake. "This... faunus girl." Blake bristled at the hardly-disguised contempt in that voice. "Why must you barge into my castle, corrupting my dear child with ideas of throwing herself into the dangers beyond these gates?"

"'Barge in?'" Blake repeated indignantly. "I was _dragged_ in- leaving is all I _want!_ And as far as you raising her- seems like you're doing a great job, leaving her entirely alone for ten years!"

The voice grew cold. "That is none of your concern- she is _my_ child, I took her in when no one else would. You could not begin to understand- she is from an entirely different world than some child with the ears of a cat."

"Either way, we'll be leaving," Blake spoke defiantly, reaching back for Weiss's hand and preparing to guide her around the ring of fire towards the gate.

"You will _not,_ " the voice spoke again, absolutely scathing. Behind her, a pair of statues on either side of the gates lit up, crackling with energy not unlike what arced around Weiss when opening the castle's locked doors. However, the effect was... less desirable. Blake watched in horror as the gate's stone doors shuddered and began to move.

"Weiss, _hurry!_ " she urged, practically dragging the girl in white forward. Some part of her, in the very back of her mind, knew it was a lost cause already- even as she moved, the flames moved as well to block her, and something told her that the distance was too far even if her path _wasn't_ obstructed. Nonetheless, she continued to fight even as despair set in- even as the doors finally came to a grinding halt, having thoroughly cut off their escape route.

"Who do you think you are?" Blake growled in the back of her throat, ears flattened against her head.

"The lady of this castle, Cinder Fall," the figure answered with ease. "Now, you say you wish to leave this castle, faunus?"

Blake narrowed her eyes, refusing to give this... _Cinder_ the satisfaction she sought. Nonetheless, the voice spoke again. "In that case, I offer you a deal- lead Weiss- my child- back to her chambers. You should know the way well enough by now. Take her back to where it is safe, then return here- no obstacles will impede you. Once you return here, if Weiss is still safe in her chambers, I will open the gate for you- and for you alone. You may leave this castle and spend the remainder of your days however seems best to you- just leave my child where she is safe."

Blake blinked, glancing back at Weiss again- her eyes had grown wide and fearful- she did _not_ want to be left alone again. She threw her gaze back at those stone gates, braced shut against her, blocking her path to her friends. Back to Weiss, trembling, her veneer of authoritative detachment shattered- she looked absolutely terrified that Blake was about to accept Cinder's proposal. After all, all she'd done throughout the trip was express her desire to leave this sprawling labyrinth of stone.

At long last, she returned her gaze to Cinder, crossing her arms and narrowing her eyes. "No deal."

"What?" Cinder asked, as though she hadn't quite heard properly.

"No deal!" Blake repeated, louder. "I don't know what your history with Weiss is, but I can tell it's not one _she_ has many good memories of. You leave her alone in that tower for ten years, and say it's for her own good? I don't believe you. She and I are leaving this castle, and we'll do it together- with or without your help! So here's _my_ deal- you can open the gate for us now, make everything nice and easy, or you can keep it shut, and we'll open it on our own- and if we meet you again along the way... well, I don't recommend it."

A cold silence fell on the courtyard. When Cinder spoke again, every syllable trembled with rage. "You can't begin to grasp the magnitude of the mistake you've made here, _faunus._ " The figure turned, away from Blake, and to the girl cowering behind her. "And as for you, my child..." Weiss winced. "I do not blame you for what has transpired here. True, you could have done more to stave off the corruption this _filth_ brought here... but we both know that you are unprepared for the dangers of those outside. Return to your chambers, and there will be no punishment- and you will buy your friend here her freedom- whether she wants it or not."

All at once, the fire began picking up, spinning around high into the sky, and then... it was gone, the figure with it.

Blake threw one last glare at where the figure had stood, before turning to Weiss. "Weiss... who was that?"

"Like she said... Cinder," Weiss muttered, refusing to meet Blake's eyes. "She's the master of this castle... the only other... _thing_ I've seen here all these years."

"I thought you said _I_ was the first," Blake pointed out, confusion in her eyes.

"You're the first _person_ I've seen in this place," Weiss corrected. "I don't think she's human- more like a god. She has this whole place under her control- she's the reason I could never leave, even if I got around the grimm."

"You speak to her often?"

"Only when I try to escape- if I manage to get past the grimm, she'll appear, talk me back, lead me back... tell me it's all for the best..."

"And _is_ she your mother?"

"I don't know," Weiss shook her head. "I don't know how I'm connected to her any more than you do- she says she took me in, so I doubt we're related by blood- she says she protects me from what's outside the castle... though she's never said what that is. Everything else I told you _is_ true- I woke up here one day, I just met her after I tried to escape, and that's when she told me those things."

"But you still want to leave?" Blake asked gently.

Weiss looked up, and to Blake's surprise, there was a fire in her eyes. "Of course I do, you _idiot!_ "

Blake's eyes widened. "Is... is something wrong?"

"You... you _moron!_ She was going to let you leave! She never lets _anyone_ leave! Do you realize how long _I've_ been waiting for an opportunity like that? It finally comes to you, and you just _shoot it down?!_ "

"I didn't want-"

"What about those friends of yours? The ones you're so loyal to after they sold you out? How are they going to feel when you never show up because your pride was apparently worth more than getting out of here?!"

"It had nothing to do with pride!" Blake spoke up, her eyebrows knitting. "Like I said, I'm not leaving without you!"

"And why do you care so much about me?!"

"Because I don't plan on leaving someone behind in a situation like this just to save myself! I'm sure you'd do the same for me!"

"Well, I wouldn't!" Weiss raged. "If it meant _I_ got to leave this godforsaken place, I wouldn't have a _second's_ hesitation in leaving you behind!"

A ringing silence fell, Blake staring for a moment before speaking quietly. "You don't mean that."

"Yes I do," Weiss growled, arms over her chest. "I _hate_ this place- there isn't anything I _wouldn't_ do to put it behind me."

Blake bit her tongue- she stood by her previous assessment of Weiss's outburst- she was upset, not thinking straight. Why shouldn't she be, after getting so close to her goal, only to have it snatched away at the last second? Nevertheless, those words stung. Even so, the only anger she felt was towards Cinder, claiming to protect Weiss while keeping her isolated from the rest of the world in a moldy old castle, keeping her at arm's length even from herself, and cruelly manipulating her back to her prison every time she attempted to escape. At long last, she came to a decision. "And do you mean _that?_ "

"What?" Weiss asked, looking up after that rather pregnant pause.

"You'd really do anything to get out of here?"

"Anything at all."

"Good," Blake nodded, rising back to her feet. "Glad to know our little journey isn't ending here."

"What?" Weiss repeated, raising a single eyebrow. "But you just saw-"

"-a complication," Blake nodded. "It looks like this will take longer than I thought- we may not make it out today, but I still aim to leave this castle- and I still aim to do it with you. We got around that broken bridge, we can get around this. Are there any other exits from the castle you know of?"

"Only however _you_ got in," Weiss shook her head.

"And that's not an option," Blake mused, recalling the wall that had slid into place to block their access from the door Ren and Pyrrha had left by. "You're absolutely certain? No side-exits, no windows at a reasonable height we could jump out or rappel from? The front gate's the only answer?"

"As far to my knowledge," Weiss nodded.

"Alright... how are those doors controlled? Somehow, I doubt Cinder shut those doors by pushing them closed herself."

"I have no idea," Weiss admitted, her eyes returning to the ground. "Maybe she just used her power on them- like I said, she's less of a person and more of a god."

"I don't believe in gods," Blake shook her head. "Even if I did, I'm pretty sure they wouldn't look or act like that. Some people just want to _seem_ invincible, but at the end of the day, it's all smoke and mirrors." She should know that well enough. "You see those spheres on either side of the gate?"

"Yeah..." Weiss nodded, looking up at them.

"I saw the same energy you use to open those locked doors going through them when they closed- why not try opening the gate yourself?"

"Alright," Weiss shrugged, and, despite her eyes being entirely bereft of hope, she moved towards the heavy stone doors, attempting to push them open. Blake hadn't truly expected it to work, and she wasn't disappointed- a moment later, Weiss was looking back at her with hopelessness in her eyes. "No good."

Blake cast her gaze back to those spheres- they weren't _quite_ directly on the doors. They seemed to be on the corner of a pair of large stone walkways or aqueducts, also attached to the castle, and leading off to a pair of towers off in the distance, remarkably far from where they were. "And those towers?"

"I don't know anything about them," Weiss shook her head. "I've already shown you all the castle I know of- anywhere we go from here on out would be new to me, too."

"Hmm..." Blake closed her eyes. She had no idea how grounded in reality her new plan was, but it was starting to seem like their only option. "Alright, we're going to those towers- I can't be sure, but I think the energy was coming from them. Maybe, once we get there, we can find a way to open the doors from there."

"We're splitting up?" Weiss asked, a note of panic entering her voice.

"Splitting up?" Blake asked, shaking her head fervently. "With those freaks of nature out to grab you as soon as I turn my back? No- we'll have to see what's in those towers, but if we're lucky, we won't have to split up to get these doors open again."

"I haven't exactly trusted my luck in a long time," Weiss crossed her arms.

"Me neither," Blake acknowledged, running her hand along the ears that had gotten her into this predicament to begin with. "But for now, it's the only plan we've got."

Weiss sighed heavily, already heading back to the courtyard. As she approached the door, she glanced back. "Aren't you coming?"

"Yeah," Blake shook her head. "Yeah..."

XXXX

A moment later, they were back in the tangle of staircases that formed the previous courtyard, searching for a door that connected to either of the stone walkways Blake had noticed. At long last, their investigation led them to the conclusion that said doors were on the opposite side of a pair of drawbridges- that were currently raised.

"Just our luck that we'd end up having to take the long way around," Weiss grumbled, prompting a light chuckle from Blake. "What's with you?" she asked, glancing at the girl in black.

"Just glad to hear your attitude's upgraded from 'we're never getting out of here' to 'we'll get out of here after jumping through all this castle's hoops,'" Blake tried to explain what so amused her. "So, any ideas about where to start?"

Weiss followed the spiraling balconies with her eyes, trying to determine the best path to take to ascend to the walkways. Finally, she settled on a door not far from the double doors leading back to the entrance hall. "This one."

"You're sure?"

"Of course not," Weiss muttered, crossing her arms- Blake was glad to see her returning to that aloof, composed state. She was recovering nicely from their encounter with Cinder. "I already told you the only parts of the castle I've been to are the ones I took you through. But if what I've seen of the rest of the castle from my tower is anything to go by... and with what I see here... this is the fastest way to that door." She pointed towards the door leading to the western walkway.

"Well, we've got to start somewhere," Blake shrugged. "Come on." With that, she stepped ahead of the girl in white, leading her down a long, dark, narrow hallway. Eventually, a flight of stairs took them downwards until the path emptied out into yet another courtyard- though this one very clearly had a different purpose from the others. Constructed on a hill, each level of this courtyard held a row of tombstones. Judging from the wild grass growing in front of each stone, and the text upon them being worn away, Blake thought it was a safe guess that any bodies buried beneath them had been placed there decades and decades ago. "I'm guessing you didn't plan on bringing us here?" she asked, her voice taking on a much more solemn tone.

"No," Weiss shook her head. "I... I didn't know about this place..."

There was a definite sense of intrusion on hallowed ground as they descended the steps built into the hillside. Weiss spoke very quietly as they did- "Do you know anything about this castle? None of the books in my library talked about it- on the outside, do you know more-"

"No," Blake shook her head. "This castle was around long before my village was founded, and it was abandoned then, too. At least... we thought it was. Aside from the faunus being sacrificed to this place, we never imagined there were people actually living here..."

Weiss bit her lip as they approached the bottom of the hill, where another door seemed to beckon them back into the castle's confines. "Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why does your village sacrifice faunus to this castle?"

Blake sighed, resigning herself to explaining the tradition's sordid history. "In my village... faunus are seen as cursed. Whenever someone becomes a faunus... people die not long afterwards. We found the only way to stop it was through that sacrifice. I think in the past, people were more affected by it, but over the years, it's become so... so _normal_... the first time even _I_ really thought of it was when a friend of mine- Velvet- grew some rabbit ears. I can still remember her face when they rowed her across the lake..."

Their darker turn of conversation seemed even darker for the location they stood in- an uncomfortable glance between them led to a mutual nod, an opening of the door at the graveyard's bottom, and an entrance into the hallway beyond.

"So you didn't always have those ears?" Weiss asked as they headed down yet another long, torch-lit corridor.

"No," Blake shook her head. "Not until a day or two ago- I just woke up with them. Ruby and Yang were horrified when they saw it..."

"Because you might have cursed them?"

"No, nothing like that," Blake shook her head. "Because they knew what it meant- that I'd have to come out to this castle, and die here."

"Ruby... Yang... who are they?"

" _They_ took _me_ in when no one else would," Blake recalled. "My parents died when I was young, and after that, I was taken care of by..." For a moment, her voice trailed off, her expression darkening. "A story for another time. The point is, after I left... him... I was lost on the streets, nowhere to go. Yang found me, and she and her family took me in. They treated me like I was their own sister- I owe everything to them."

"But they still put you in here?"

"It broke them to," Blake shook her head. "Ruby was practically on the ground, sobbing, and Yang... she was... broken." She shuddered as she remembered her closest friend's expression as she had been loaded into the boat. "We have some other friends, and they were in pretty bad shape, too. Jaune... he looked so... lost. Nora didn't even show up, Pyrrha cried the whole boat ride out, and Ren... well, he was the one to give me the key to my cell."

"So you still have some friends out there, huh?" Weiss asked. "What kind of people are they?"

"The kind of people I'd trust with my life," Blake answered without hesitation.

"And... they think of you as a friend, too?"

"Of course," Blake nodded. "They'll be at the beach when we get there- you can meet them for yourself."

Weiss still looked skeptical, but any further debate was interrupted as their hall emptied onto a cliffside. Her voice caught in her throat as she awed at the majesty before her- the lake stretched out for miles around, eventually arriving at the lush green of the nearby forest. The sun was beginning to set, painting the image with a red tint. In the center of the plain they stood upon was a tall windmill, spinning slowly in the low wind. "Beautiful," she muttered to herself.

"Sure is," Blake nodded, smiling slightly. She had to admit, if she wasn't trapped here against her will, she might actually enjoy some of the views this castle had to offer. Gazing at the setting sun, she came to a decision. "Well, this is as good a place as any to spend the night."

"You mean, we're stopping here?" Weiss asked, surprised.

"Well, like I said, it looks like our trip's been extended," Blake shrugged, taking steps around the field in search of the best spot to curl up for a nap. "Doesn't look like we'll be getting out of here tonight- may as well get some sleep while we can."

A lurking fear gnawed at the back of Weiss's mind. "But what about... you know..."

Blake seemed to already know what she was talking about. Hefting her stick once more, she said, "We'll take turns keeping watch. I'll stay up first- I'll just kill any grimm that decide to show up tonight. Once you wake up, you can just wake me if any show up- I'll deal with them."

"I don't want-"

"It's the best way," Blake shook her head. "We'll keep going tomorrow- for now, this is one of the better sleeping spots I've found."

Weiss relented, crossing to where Blake was laying gently down, gazing back at the tower that had once held her, just barely visible in the distance. "You know... I think I've seen this windmill out of the tower's windows before. I never... I never imagined I'd be sleeping under it one day."

"Yeah," Blake shrugged offhandedly, sitting cross-legged next to her, stick at her side. "Just wait 'til we get out of here- the size of the world out there will blow your mind."

Before Weiss allowed herself to fall asleep, there was something else gnawing at the back of her mind- something other than her fear of Cinder or the grimm. "So, is he the same?"

"Hmm?" Blake grunted in confusion, casting her amber eyes towards Weiss.

"The person who take care of you between your parents and... Ruby and Yang. Is he the person you talked about earlier on the mine carts? You said you had a good teacher, who turned out to be a bad person- is he...?"

Blake bit her lip. On the one hand, she was reserved by nature- and abnormally so when the topic of _that_ person came up. Even Yang and Ruby had had to press her for almost three years before she'd revealed everything about her time with that man. On the other hand, all of Weiss's secrets had been laid bare before her today, whether the girl in white had wanted it or not. Finally, she gave in, muttering a single sentence. "His name was Adam... Adam Taurus."

From there, she fell silent. Weiss waited for some elaboration, but it never came. All Blake said afterwards was, "Get some sleep. I'll wake you up in a few hours to take over the watch." She was prepared to argue further, but sleep _was_ pulling at her eyelids, so she finally elected to allow them to droop, her head hitting the ground as the blissful darkness of sleep overtook her.

 _XXXX_

Another chapter complete. Hmm... there seems to be something up with fanfiction lately... the view counter got frozen at 400, when people were still subscribing or favoriting, so I _know_ people were at least _looking_ at it... that and the last few haven't come through on my email, I just noticed them as I was posting this chapter...

But forget that! We are up to 24 follows and 13 favorites! I do not know how to express my gratitude right now- one of the biggest things keeping me from writing this story was my nerves about entering a new fandom's territory, yet here I am, being welcomed with open arms! I truly do not know what to say, except... please R&R, constructive criticism embraced, flames, not so much, Gamer4 out!


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